ABSTRACT
Emotional harm caused to children by emotional abuse or neglect by a parent or main carer has been recognized more widely in the literature in the last couple of decades (Glaser, 2002; Iwaniec, 1995). Emotional abuse may, in some ways, appear to be a softer and less damaging form of abuse than the more widely recognized physical and sexual abuse and physical neglect. While emotional abuse and neglect may cause no physical evidence or scars, professionals are increasingly aware of their extremely harmful effects on children’s healthy emotional and psychological development and functioning, their general well-being and happiness, and their social adjustment into adolescence and adult life.
